Nextbit’s Baton App Brings iOS-like Continuity Features to Android

Just when we thought Apple is leading the race of technology convergence with it’s new ‘Continuity’ feature on OS X Yosemite and iOS 8.1, Nextbit, a startup formed by ex-Googlers, launched a forward-thinking cloud sync and backup service for Android called Baton.

It lets you quickly pass an app’s state from one Android device to another, which means you can continue playing on the same level in a game, editing the same document in an app or browsing the same web page right away. The only precondition being that the second device must also have Baton and the same app installed.

Nextbit Baton has three main features—sync, pass, and backup/restore. The sync feature is capable of keeping your app data in sync across all your devices. So, if you’re using a fitness app on a phone to track your stats, you can use a tablet to view all that data as it exists on the phone. This is a lot more than restoring app data which is already provided by Android (though underutilized). Nextbit constantly updates app data across all devices, but you can also disable sync on any app of your choice.

The Pass feature is probably the most impressive. A long press of the multitasking button will let you beam the current state of your app to another device and allow instant pick up where you have left off. The Nextbit backup lets you store apps and data in the cloud for easy restoration to new devices, similar to Google’s new app restore in Lollipop. All the cloud data in Nextbit is kept in Amazon’s AWS, and the data only syncs over Wi-Fi to avoid destroying your data cap or battery life.

Baton by Nextbit is available in private Beta form for users running the latest CyanogenMod version. The service will be available to public via a CyanogenMod release. It is said that Baton’s first public release will be on the “commercially distributed Cyanogen operating system” at some point this year, which means that OnePlus One users will be getting it for sure.